By Aaron Coe
Herald Writer
PASCO — The South Whidbey girls cross country team used solid performances from its top five runners to claim second place Saturday at the WIAA/Dairy Farmers of Washington State Cross Country Championships in Pasco.
The Falcons do not have a dominant runner, but placed five harriers in the top 28 of the team finishers and edged Omak on a tiebreaker. No. 6 runner Emily Felt finished 34th on the 3.1 mile Sun Willows Golf Course route — five spots ahead of Omak’s No. 6 — to give South Whidbey second place.
South Whidbey’s North Cascade Conference rival, Mount Baker, got 1-2 finishes from Bobeya Krishnek and Kristen Rohde to claim the team title with 60 points. In a race where the lowest score wins, the Falcons and Omak each compiled 83 points.
Though Lisa dePender graduated after finishing seventh over all at the 2000 meet, the Falcons improved on last year’s third place finish with a group of mostly underclassmen.
"We did awesome," said South Whidbey junior Julie Gabelein, who finished 11th for the team and 18th overall with a time of 20 minutes, 28 seconds. "We have a lot of young talent and we all ran well."
Karen Schwager (12th, 20th), the only senior on the team, was twelve seconds behind Gabelein and one second ahead of freshman teammate Nancy Godsey (13th, 21st). Schwager, who finished 50th overall last year, improved her time by 1:10.
Sophomore Callie Supsinskas finished 19th (31st overall) and freshman Becky Gabelein was 28th (42nd).
"I’m very proud," South Whidbey coach Doug Fulton said. "We’ve made a lot of progress since last year even though we lost some to graduation. We packed it well and that’s what we’ve been doing all season."
South Whidbey’s performance aside, Saturday proved to be a day of disappointment for several area teams.
Snohomish came into the meet believing they could be champions, but settled for fifth.
"We never ran the race," Snohomish coach Dan Parker said.
Actually, they did run the race, but not to their expectations. The Panthers, who won state titles in 1995 and 1996, did not place a runner in the top 30. Sophomore Ashley Meyers (19:52) led Snohomish with a 35th place overall and was the 18th team runner. Freshman Alyssa Modrell (20th team), junior Katrina Wiseman (25th), sophomore Amanda Mowers (42nd) and senior Aimee Spada (50th) followed.
The anticipated duel with North Central never materialized and the Spokane school won the title with 80 points, well ahead of Eisenhower’s 102.
The Marysville-Pilchuck team of Alicia Farmer (19th team), Maryanne Hanks (44th), Brett Connelly (54th), Lisa Perkins (58th) and Alex Bonn (59th) finished 10th.
Kamiak finished 11th, a climb of five spots from the 2000 meet with the performances of Amanda Costello (37th team), Brittany Hart (40th), Keely Kaligis (55th), Kristy Mathes (63rd) and Kelly Ronan (68th).
Jessie McLaughlin, a senior from Olympia, finished first in a strong 4A field with a time of 18:20. Enumclaw senior Alison Tubbs, who has won several large invitational meets this year and was considered the favorite, finished sixth. Tubbs, who dominated the 3,200-meter run at the state track meet in May, was not able to make it to the awards stand because she was being looked at by medical personnel.
Parker said the Panthers were hoping for top-four finish and were disappointed to be going home without a trophy.
"The girls were hoping to contend for the top spot," Parker said. "We have high expectations. It’ll be a long bus ride home."
Monroe sophomore Bethany Ojalehto made a strong showing with an 11th place finish, 14 spots better than her run in the Class 3A meet last year. Edmonds-Woodway’s Kelsey McCallum was 13th.
Lynnwood’s Sarah Revoyr, who did not qualify for the 2000 state meet, had a solid race as a senior in the 3A race. Revoyr’s time of 19:14 earned her an 8th-place medal, though she also had hoped for more.
"I kind of died in the last mile," said Revoyr, who was in fifth place two miles into the race. "I was looking for a stronger finish."
Revoyr, whose time at the Oct. 26 district meet was nearly two minutes faster than the 2000 district meet, said she worked much harder in preparation for her senior year.
"I ran a lot more during the summer and trained a lot harder," Revoyr said. "I was more into it this year."
Eastmont’s Amanda Miller won the 3A competition in 18:29. Skyline won the 3A team championship.
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